26-letter words containing p, e, r, a, t, i
- gastroesophageal sphincter — a ring of smooth muscle fibers connecting the esophagus and stomach.
- general protection failure — (GPF, or General Protection Fault) An addressing error, caught by the processor's memory protection hardware, that cannot be attributed to any expected condition such as a page fault.
- german democratic republic — a former country in central Europe: created in 1949 from the Soviet zone of occupied Germany established in 1945: reunited with West Germany in 1990. 41,827 sq. mi. (108,333 sq. km). Capital: East Berlin.
- german shorthaired pointer — one of a German breed of large sporting dogs having a short hard coat, usually liver or liver and white in color, and a docked tail, used as a versatile hunting dog.
- german wire-haired pointer — one of a German breed of large sporting dogs having a harsh, wiry, flat-lying coat usually liver and white in color, a muzzle with a beard and whiskers, and a docked tail, used as a retrieving pointer.
- grand army of the republic — an organization, founded in 1866, composed of men who served in the U.S. Army and Navy during the Civil War: its last member died in 1956. Abbreviation: G.A.R.
- hoist with your own petard — If someone who has planned to harm someone else is hoist with their own petard or hoist by their own petard, their plan in fact results in harm to themselves.
- human-computer interaction — (software, hardware) (HCI) The study of how humans interact with computers, and how to design computer systems that are easy, quick and productive for humans to use. See also Human-Computer Interface.
- integrated data processing — IDP.
- integrated pest management — an ecological approach to pest management that combines understanding the causes of pest outbreaks, manipulating the crop ecosystem for pest control, and monitoring pest populations and their life cycles to determine if and when the use of pesticides is indicated. Abbreviation: IPM.
- interactive voice response — (communications) (IVR)
A telecommunications system, prevelant with PBX and voice mail systems, that uses a prerecorded database of voice messages to present options to a user, typically over telephone lines. User input is retrieved via DTMF tone key presses. When used in conjunction with voice mail, for example, these systems typically allow users to store, retrieve, and route messages, as well as interact with an underlying database server which may allow for automated transactions and data processing. (15 Sept 1997) - international reply coupon — a coupon that can be exchanged for postage stamps to send a letter to a foreign country. It is used to reimburse a correspondent for postage without having to deal with foreign currencies
- javascript object notation — (programming) (JSON) Syntax for serialising JavaScript objects, often used as a data carrier format. JSON is based on a subset of the JavaScript programming language. It uses a file extension of .json and is considered a language-independent data format.
- justice of the peace court — (in Scotland, formerly) a court with limited criminal jurisdiction held by justices of the peace in counties: replaced in 1975 by the district court
- knee-high to a grasshopper — very young or very small
- law of multiple proportion — the statement that where two elements can combine to form more than one compound, the ratio by weight of one element to a given weight of the second is usually a small whole number.
- macintosh operating system — (operating system) (Mac OS) Apple Computer, Inc.'s proprietary operating system for their Macintosh family of personal computers. The part of the operating system that simulates the desktop is called "Finder." The multitasking version of Finder was called "MultiFinder" until multitasking was integrated into the core of the OS with the introduction of System 7.0 in 1990. The Macintosh series provides a built-in graphics language, called "QuickDraw", which provides a standard for software developers. Mac OS 8, scheduled for delivery in July 1997, included new human-interface features, increased system stability and performance, a PowerPC processor-native Finder, tighter integration of Internet access through panel-based "assistants," Personal Web Sharing and the ability to run Java applets and programs through Mac OS Run Time for Java. Version 9.2 was the last version of the bespoke Mac OS. The next version, Mac OS X is quite different, being based on Unix. See also Macintosh file system, Macintosh user interface.
- mainstream corporation tax — (in Britain) the balance of the corporation tax formerly paid by a company for an accounting period after the advance corporation tax had been deducted
- mammoth cave national park — a national park in central Kentucky: limestone caverns with onyx formations, stalagmites, and stalactites. 79 sq. mi. (205 sq. km).
- many-worlds interpretation — an interpretation of quantum mechanics based on the idea that every possible event exists in its own world
- master chief petty officer — a noncommissioned rank above a senior chief petty officer. Abbreviation: MCPO.
- mecklenburg-west pomerania — a state of NE Germany, along the Baltic coast: consists of the former state of Mecklenburg and those parts of W Pomerania not incorporated into Poland after World War II: part of East Germany until 1990. Pop: 1 732 000 (2003 est)
- metropolitan museum of art — the principal museum in New York City: founded in 1870 and housed in its present premises in Central Park since 1880
- micronetics standard mumps — (MSM) A version of MUMPS for the IBM PC RT and R6000.
- monochrome display adapter — (hardware, graphics) (MDA) One of IBM's earliest hardware video display standards for use in IBM PC. MDA can display only monochrome 80*25 text (IBM PC video mode 7). It is now obsolete.
- national merit scholarship — one of some 6000 college scholarships awarded annually since 1956, by the nonprofit, grant-supported National Merit Scholarship Corporation, to high-school students (National Merit Scholars) on the basis of scholastic record, personal character, and score on a test administered nationally.
- national progressive party — Progressive party (def 1).
- new business profit margin — A new business profit margin is a system used by insurers to measure the cost of and profit from writing new policies.
- not touch with a bargepole — to refuse to have anything to do with
- official production system — (language) (OPS) The first production system (i.e. rule based) programming language, developed at CMU in 1970 and used for building expert systems. OPS was originally written in Franz Lisp and later ported to other LISP dialects.
- open document architecture — (standard) (ODA) ISO standard (8613) for describing documents. It allows text, graphics, and facsimile documents to be transferred between different systems.
- paraconsistent probability — (logic) A notion introduced by Florentin Smarandache: The probability (T, I, F) that an event occurs is calculated from different sources which may be contradictory or may overlap information; here T, I, F are real subsets representing the truth, indeterminacy, and falsity percentages respectively, and n_sup = sup(T)+sup(I)+sup(F) > 100. See neutrosophic probability
- parent teacher association — an organization of teachers and the parents of their students, as within a public school, to promote mutual understanding and to increase the effectiveness of the educational program. Abbreviation: PTA, P.T.A.
- parent-teacher association — an organization of teachers and the parents of their students, as within a public school, to promote mutual understanding and to increase the effectiveness of the educational program. Abbreviation: PTA, P.T.A.
- pellagra-preventive factor — nicotinic acid or its amide, nicotinamide, being the vitamin-B-complex members that serve to prevent pellagra.
- period-luminosity relation — the relationship between the period of light variation and of the absolute magnitude of Cepheid variable stars.
- permanent health insurance — a form of insurance that provides up to 75 per cent of a person's salary, until retirement, in case of prolonged illness or disability
- personal digital assistant — a handheld computer, often pen-based, that provides especially organizational software, as an appointment calendar, and communications hardware, as a fax modem. Abbreviation: PDA.
- phenylethylbarbituric acid — phenobarbital.
- physical transport network — (communications) (PTN) The actual hardware through which data transfer devices are connected.
- pick up the threads of sth — If you pick up the threads of an activity, you start it again after an interruption. If you pick up the threads of your life, you become more active again after a period of failure or bad luck.
- portable forth environment — (language) (PFE) A highly portable Forth development system based on the ANSI standard for Forth, by Dirk-Uwe Zoller of FHT, Mannheim, Germany. PFE aims to be correct, complete, usable, and simple but it isn't optimised for speed. It supports all dpANS word sets. It runs on Linux, RS/6000, and HP-UX. E-mail: Guido Draheim <[email protected]>.
- post-and-beam construction — wall construction in which beams rather than studs are used to support heavy posts.
- postprandial thermogenesis — the rate at which food is broken down after a meal and used by your body
- primary sex characteristic — any of the body structures directly concerned in reproduction, as the testes, ovaries, and external genitalia.
- prince henry the navigator — Prince, 1394–1460, prince of Portugal.
- private finance initiative — (in Britain) a government scheme to encourage private investment in public projects
- privately held corporation — A privately held corporation is a company whose shares cannot be bought by the general public.
- professional office system — (messaging) (PROFS) An office messaging system from IBM, used worldwide, mainly on IBM mainframes.
- public-liability insurance — insurance covering the insured against risks involving liability to the public for damages arising from negligence.